Wednesday, May 11, 2005

North Korea Soon to Have Ten Nukes

That's the implication of this article, assuming that Kim Jong-Il already has the half-dozen he is believed to have. Really, though, numbers no longer matter. Once a country has more than one, who cares if they have a thousand? Clearly, a nuclear war is unthinkable, but think about it, we must. The danger is that some lunatic, whether Kim or another party, will explode a nuke over a populated area. Of course, this would be a tragedy of unthinkable proporations: today's arsenal is composed of weapons far more powerful than Fat Man and Little Boy.

What would the reaction of the world be? Clearly, a nuclear attack by North Korea would present the gravest threat to the globe since the days of Hitler. I suspect the scenario would be concentrated air strikes against all North Korean installations, real or suspected, followed by a massive military buildup in South Korea aimed at invasion of the North. Kim would then threaten to nuke the troops building up, or would actually do so; alternatively, he might preemptively invade the South. In either case, would we have the nerve to break the nuclear taboo ourselves?

This is by far the most pressing matter facing the world at the moment. The questions I outlined above are only some of the horrors we must be prepared to consider. Let's pray it's only a clumsy bluff by a dying regime; however, we can't afford to wait and find out. This is not a Republican or American issue; this is, perhaps, a pending global tragedy, and the clock is ticking.